Google releases preview of Chrome 2.0

Looks like Google is serious about ramping up Chrome to better compete with IE and Firefox. There's an alpha version of Chrome 2.0 available, and the release notes include a list of new features...

New version of WebKit. WebKit is the open source code Google Chrome uses to render web pages (HTML and CSS). 1.0.154.36 used basically the same version of WebKit as Safari 3.1, but the WebKit team has made a lot of improvements since that was released.

Form Autocomplete. Google Chrome remembers what you've typed into fields on web pages. If you type in the same form again, it will show any previous values that match what you've typed so far. You can disable Form autocomplete on the Minor Tweaks tab of the Options dialog. (Note: this is like the basic form autocomplete available in Firefox or Internet Explorer. It is not the same as the form fill feature in Google Toolbar.)

Full-page zoom. Previously, page zoom (Ctrl++ or Ctrl+-) increased or decreased only the text on a page. Zoom now scales everything on the page together, so pages look correct at different zoom levels.

Spell-checking improvements. You can now enable or disable spell checking in a text field by right-clicking in the field. You can also change the spell-checking language by right clicking.

Autoscroll. Many users have asked for this and (thanks to our WebKit update), we now offer autoscrolling. Middle-click (click the mousewheel on most mice) on a page to turn on autoscroll, then move the mouse to scroll the page in any direction.

Docking dragged tabs. When you drag a tab to certain positions on the monitor, a docking icon will appear. Release the mouse over the docking icon to have the tab snap to the docking position instead of being dropped at the same size as the original window.

Import bookmarks from Google Bookmarks. The [Wrench menu] > Import bookmarks & settings... option now has a Google Toolbar option to import Google Bookmarks. The bookmarks get imported into your Other bookmarks folder. The bookmarks are not kept in sync; the import process simply reads in the current set of online bookmarks.